Keno’s History

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Keno was created in 200 before Christ by the Chinese army leader, Cheung Leung who used this game as a finance resource for his declining forces. The city of Cheung was at war, and after a bit of war time seemed to be facing country wide shortage of food with the drastic drop in supplies. Cheung Leung had to create a fast response for the economic calamity and to create money for his army. He therefore designed the game we know today as keno and it was a wonderful success.

Keno was well-known as the White Pigeon Game, due to the fact that the winning numbers were broadcast by pigeons from bigger locations to the smaller towns. The lottery ‘Keno’ was imported to the United States in the 19th century by Chinese migrants who headed to the US for jobs. In those times, Keno used 120 numbers.

Today, Keno is most often wagered on with just 80 numbers in just about all of American based casinos as well as online casinos. Keno is mainly played today as a result of the relaxed nature of gambling the game and the simple fact that there are no expertise needed to play Keno. Despite the fact that the odds of coming away with a win are terrible, there is always the possibility that you could win quite big with very little gaming investment.

Keno is played with 80 numbers and 20 numbers are picked each round. Gamblers of Keno can pick from two to 10 numbers and gamble on them, as much or as little as they want to. The pay out of Keno is according to the wagers made and the matching of numbers.

Keno has grown in acceptance in the United States since the close of the 1800’s when the Chinese letters were replaced with , American numbers. Lotteries weren’t covered under the legalization of wagering in Nevada State in 1931. The casinos changed the name of the ‘Chinese lotto’ to ‘horse race keno’ employing the notion that the numbers are horses and you are looking for your horses to come in. When a law passed that levied a tax on off track gambling, the casinos swiftly adjusted the name to ‘Keno’.